Best apps to use with Pokémon Go: Track steps, find friends, chat trainers, and more!

What apps do you need to track your steps, find your friends, chat with other trainers, and otherwise get the most out of Pokémon Go? These!

Pokémon Go is fun all on its own, but with a few extra apps you can really take it to the next level. That includes measuring your exercise, meeting up with people you know, communicating with people nearby, and more!

Pedometer++

So you’re trying to hatch an egg and you’ve got to walk 5 km before it will break out of its shell. But, how far is 5 km? How many steps does that require? Use Pedometer++ and set it to metric to keep track of how far you’ve walked. You can even set a daily step goal to track how far away you are from reaching your egg-hatching goal. It shows you how many steps you’ve walked today, plus how many kilometers that is equal to. Incidentally, 5 km is approximately 8,500 steps, so you’d better get moving.

Free – Download now

Find my Friends

Do you want to let your buddies know where a hot PokéStop is? Are you planning a Pokémon Gym takeover and want to get a group of friends on your team to help you out? Turn on Find My Friends (and have your fellow Pokémon Go players do the same) and track everyone as they roam around the city. When you get to a hot spot, let your friends know where to meet you using the Notify feature. Let the Poké Party begin!

It’s already on your iPhone. Here’s how to use it.

Google Maps

Sure, there is a map in Pokémon Go that makes it possible to see where nearby PokéStops and Pokémon Gyms are, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you know the city streets really well, you can get confused trying to figure out where to walk next.

With Google Maps, you can compare the location of PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon Go with the real world locations. When you’ve determined where you want to be, drop a pin and get directions so you don’t find yourself wandering into a dark alley accidentally.

Free – Download now

Lure Squad

Lure Squad is a service that just opened up after the US launch of Pokémon Go. We found out about it on Product Hunt. It is not an actual app, but a way for businesses to connect to consumers.

A business owner can register a PokéStop near their location and offer some kind of reward for anyone that wants to drop a Lure Module, like a free cup of coffee or 10 percent off of a purchase.

Pokémon Go players can look up registered PokéSpots nearby and find out if any businesses are requesting a Lure. Then, they can head to the location, set a Lure, and introduce themselves to business owner as the player who set the Lure (they can check to make sure you are the account holder for the Lure), and thank you with some sort of discount or gratis.

Visit the Lure Squad website from Safari on your iPhone and then set a shortcut to your Home screen.

Chat for Pokemon Go – GoChat

You know what’s missing from Pokémon Go? Location-based chatting, that’s what. Until the development team at Niantic Labs decides to make it a little more social friendly, you can try using Pokémon GoChat. It is location-based, so everyone within a certain number of feet will all be able to chat together about what’s happening at a PokéStop or Gym.

You can post to a general room. Or, if someone posted a comment in the chat room, you can Direct Message him or her to have a more personal conversation (like smack-talking someone that is trying to take down a Gym you are holding).

NOTE: Pokémon Go GoChat is experiencing server overloading due to a lot of new people trying to use it. Don’t expect much. I couldn’t even add information to my profile. Hopefully, the developers are working on getting it up and running soon.

Free – Download now

Your favorites?

Are there any apps you use to help you catch ’em all? Share the love and let us know your favorites.